Two brothers and a third man found beaten to death in car

The bound bodies of three men slain "execution-style" were found in this car. (WGN-TV)

Two brothers and a third man whose bodies were beaten and bound with their hands behind their backs were found in a stolen car Wednesday night on the Southwest Side, police said.

An autopsy conducted today found that the men had been beaten to death and died of blunt force trauma, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.

The vehicle was discovered about 9:30 p.m. on the 2300 block of West 36th Street in the McKinley Park neighborhood, said Chicago Police News Affairs Officer Hector Alfaro. The vehicle was equipped with an OnStar tracking system that was used to locate it, another police source said.

Two of the bodies were found in the trunk, the other in the rear seat, authorities said. The car had been reported as stolen, and police apparently found the bodies when they recognized the car.

In an interview, Police Supt. Jody Weis characterized the slayings as "execution-style," but said police had little information about the circumstances so far.

The Cook County medical examiner's office characterized their injuries as "multiple trauma" but could not be more specific.

The men in the trunk were identified as Crawford Davis, 23, and Tyrece Bailey, 23, both of the 1900 block of West Garfield Boulevard. The two lived on the same block.

Bailey's older brother Stephen Bailey, 25, of the same address as his brother, was later identified by family as the third victim, according to a spokesman for the medical examiner's office.

Tyrece Bailey was convicted in March of illegally possessing ammunition, according to court records.

The victims were found bound with rope inside of a Pontiac Grand Prix, according to a police source.

Davis lived with his grandmother, Magnolia, who said she raised him since his birth. He was born weighing only 2 pounds and 3 ounces, she said.

The former Board of Education employee has tried to keep her grandson on the straight-and-narrow path, encouraging him to find regular work. Most importantly, she tried steering him from neighborhood friends she thought were up to no good.

"But you know kids are hard-headed today, most of them," Magnolia Davis said this morning.

Though they lived together in a West Englewood apartment, most of Crawford Davis' activities outside of the home were a mystery; the young man only telling his grandmother that he was hanging with friends "from around the corner."